


Now and Then, You and I

by Chisotahn



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9085714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/pseuds/Chisotahn
Summary: A gift fic written for strangestquiet in December 2014 - this requires reading of her series starting with No Beginning, No End through The Scars We Get Together to understand! Something soft and sweet, both in the past and in hope for the future.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [strangestquiet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangestquiet/gifts).
  * Inspired by [No Beginning, No End](https://archiveofourown.org/works/47111) by [strangestquiet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangestquiet/pseuds/strangestquiet). 



_December 2018_

It was so, so hard not to fidget. Yosuke folded his hands firmly behind his back and tried to maintain an expression of polite interest as Nanako picked up a particular box of New Year’s cards for the fourth? fifth? time. But he didn’t want to rush her. Last year, he and Souji had handled the postcards for their little family during Nanako’s absence, and they’d been mourning postcards in any case. This was the first time she’d gotten to choose the New Year’s cards since her father died… and even after almost two years, he still wasn’t entirely comfortable with Nanako in tears.

At last she picked up two boxes, one in each hand, and turned to face him with a small smile; he thought there was something sad in her expression, just on the edges. “Okay - which one? This one…” She held up one hand, showing off the cards’ delicate floral design. “Or this one?” The other was slightly more traditional, with a depiction of the Dog of the Zodiac.

“Hmm. Um… well, which one do you like better, Nanako-chan?” Yosuke said, trying not to sound as awkward as he felt. Really, Souji was much better at this stuff, but they were a family and that meant Yosuke had to get better at it too.

She made a face at him. “I can’t decide! That’s why I asked _you_ , Yosuke-nii,” she said, shaking one of the boxes at him. “So which one?”

“Let’s go with the dog,” he said, after a moment. “That one has more room to write on the front, and I’m gonna need it.”

Nanako grinned at that and put the other box back. “Don’t worry, we’ll write them together. Big bro can take care of the fancy part if he has to.”

“He’d better,” Yosuke muttered, and Nanako giggled. “Oh, what, laughing at my pain? You’re just like your big bro, geez. I don’t know why I even bother.”

“Because you love him,” Nanako said serenely, and damned if she didn’t do a _perfect_ Souji Seta brow-arch when Yosuke blushed.

………..

“Okay, I’m reconsidering _everything_ , partner, you need to know that,” Yosuke said accusingly later that night. Everything had seemed perfectly normal once Souji got home - he’d approved of the cards they’d picked, they’d had dinner, and Yosuke had just settled down on the couch when Souji came back into the room with a set of brushes and ink in his hands. “You can’t be serious.”

“Why not? I think it adds a wonderful personal touch,” Souji said, putting the brushes and ink down on the kitchen table. “Worried about your calligraphy?”

“ _What_ calligraphy? Have you ever in your life seen me write anything fancy?” Yosuke folded his arms and sunk down into the couch a little more. “This is exactly why humanity invented ballpoint pens and computers and stuff.”

“It’ll be fun, Yosuke-nii!” Nanako said, carefully unscrewing the lid of the ink bottle. “We learned this in class! You just have to be careful.”

“Can you go get some scrap paper for the table, Nanako-chan?” Souji asked, and she nodded and hurried off to the recycle bin. Souji focused on Yosuke then, taking a few steps towards the couch. “You okay, partner?”

Yosuke sighed. “I’m just… I’m not a hand-written perfect calligraphy flawless brushstrokes kind of guy. I already know I won’t be able to pull it off the way it’s supposed to be. Anyway, we didn’t do all this last year.”

“Last year we were sending out mourning cards,” Souji said, looking down for a moment. “We did that for everyone my uncle had any reason to care about, for my parents… but this time is different.” When he looked up again, he had that soft smile on his face, the one that always made Yosuke catch his breath a little. “This time is for _us_. Our family. So I want to make it special.” He punctuated the sentence by leaning down and planting a soft kiss on the top of Yosuke’s head.

“Geez, Souji-” Yosuke shook his head. “You put some thought into this, huh?”

“Yeah,” he said, holding out one hand to Yosuke. “It doesn’t matter if we spill ink all over the cards or the table, or if our strokes aren’t perfectly neat - what matters is this is ours.”

After a moment, Yosuke took Souji’s offered hand, allowing the other man to tug him to his feet. “Okay, if you’re sure. But I’m not responsible for ink stains, got it?”

“Got it,” Souji said solemnly, then grinned. “Don’t worry, that’s why Nanako got the paper.” Yosuke realized with a start that Nanako had returned and was diligently layering scrap paper over the tabletop with a knowing expression on her face. How long had she been there…?

Well, it’s not like it mattered. She knew, obviously, even though old habits died hard. Yosuke took a deep breath and smiled back at Souji. “Okay, okay - so how the hell do you write with a brush, anyway?”

…………..

 

There were a lot of things to remember about that first New Year’s. There was the kimono Rise and Yukiko got for Nanako before they all went to the shrine together. There was Souji - _Souji_ \- almost forgetting about the _otoshidama_ for Nanako and having to hurry off to Junes to grab some kind of envelope before the store closed. There was food and time spent with their friends, the distant ringing of temple bells, and the soft misty first sunrise of a new year.

But what Yosuke remembered the most were the evenings they spent filling out the New Year’s cards together, even when the ink spilled or Yosuke’s brush strokes wobbled off the page. They took everything to the post office together, flush with success and relief that the job was done.

When they came home, there was one single card sitting on the kitchen table. “Crap, who did we forget?” Yosuke groaned as he picked up the postcard.

Souji gently took it from him. “This one’s for us.”

………………

The card showed up on the wall a few days later, in a small, simple frame. It stayed there for several years, until a chance bump to the wall knocked it down and it came to rest behind the dresser. Still later it got swept up, packed away without even being looked at; it was just one more object that cut like a knife if studied too closely.

There were quite a few things that didn’t endure. Most of them didn’t, actually.

But the card made it all the way to Kagoshima, somehow, though the frame got bent under a pile of books and one corner of the paper tore off. When Souji found it he lifted it out of the box, an odd expression coming over his face as he realized what it was.

He extracted it from the frame, careful not to stress the rumpled paper any further; it wasn’t as if the cards were made to last an exceptionally long time, and this one had been through a lot. He ran his fingers over the little creases, trying to smooth them out, the ink a little faded under his fingertips.

 

_Wishing you happiness in the dawn of a New Year._

Seta Souji  
Hanamura Yosuke  
Dojima Nanako

 

… they’d been family, once, all of them.

Souji let out a deep breath and put the card down, a faint smile on his face. He went out to the kitchen and got a cup of tea, inhaling the warm steam for a few minutes as he pondered, his thumb stroking absently against the ring he wore.

When the tea was gone, he padded back to his room and took a picture with his phone before settling on the couch and sending a quick text.

_Hey, guess what I found._

The response wasn’t immediate, of course; they were both busy people, no longer teenagers who hung on each other’s every word. But it did come, eventually, and when it did Souji grinned at his phone.

_What? it better not be embarrassing_

Souji attached the picture of the card and sent it along, followed by _I don’t know, is it?_

It took a few more minutes before his phone buzzed again.

_Oh god why do you have that. Look at my freakin handwriting why would you do this to me_

Another buzz.

_i cant believe you saved that, youre ridiculous._

_Happy accident, actually,_ Souji sent back, then added, _though I’m glad I did._

Yosuke’s response was much faster this time. _yeah. god my handwriting was so bad_

_All that autograph-sighing has done wonders for your penmanship, huh?_

_WHAT autograph signing what are you talking about-_ then, an instant later: _come on, we might not be that great of a band but we’re not TERRIBLE i bet ill be signing autographs any day now_

Souji chuckled. _I see. Just thought I’d share it, that’s all. How are you doing?_

_Doing good. You?_

_Yeah. Dad’s getting there. Maybe another month or two…_ He glanced over at the card on his desk. _Maybe around New Year’s, actually._

There was a long pause before the next text came in. _New Years isnt a bad time for a fresh start?_

Warmth suffused Souji, and he smiled at his phone. _That’s what I was thinking._

Another pause on Yosuke’s end, then: _Sounds good._

And, right on its heels: _Partner._

………

He packed the card more carefully that time. New frame, wrapped in bubble wrap, the whole nine yards. Because why take chances with precious things that somehow survived despite everything they’d been through?

Exactly.


End file.
